This blog chronicles the activities of a meditation group in Bancroft, Ontario and provides instruction in insight meditation. Meditation concepts are explained in terms of Western psychology and in terms of the Buddhist concepts from which this style of meditation derives. Dr. Alan McAllister, a psychologist practicing in Bancroft, is the author of the blog and the facilitator of the group which meets periodically for 8-10 sessions twice a year.

How to read the posts

The posts are arranged here with the most recent appearing at the top of the page. If you are new to the blog, you might find it useful to start with the first posts. Go to the blog archive on the lower right to access the posts in the order in which they were written.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

I have setup a Facebook page for those in the area who are interested in connecting with others who meditate or would like to. Just send me an email or a message on Facebook if you want to join. My email is drampsych@gmail.com.

We finished the eight week meditation workshop on "the practice of appreciation" under the auspices of the Bancroft Family Health Team. It was well attended throughout. It was a great group of people who seemed to appreciate the Powerpoint presentations. I plan to do another workshop in the spring. It may be a repeat of the appreciation theme, although the treatment will be different enough that I hope that those who previously attended my workshops won't get bored.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

We are inescapably present here and now.
But we are so very often absent, some other time, some other place,
Dreaming forward, dreaming backward, only momentarily present.
Yet even in our absence, we are present.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Appreciation perceives the value in our experience, understands our situation and recognizes its full implications. It unites the everyday and the transcendent, and it is the foundation for our relating to others. In this workshop, we will explore meditation practices that foster appreciation and the quality of appreciative joy.

The workshop is sponsored by the Bancroft Family Health Team and open without charge to all residents of North Hastings at any level of experience with meditation. The workshop will be held at 19 Oak Street. There will be eight sessions 10:30 AM to 12:00 noon on Tuesdays. The workshop will begin on October 13 and end on December 1. For further information call 613-334-0109.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

From the vantage point of experience, the present alone is real. The past has happened and is just a memory, the future is yet to happen and can only be imagined. However, if this now is the boundary between the past and future, is it a boundary with width or is it infinitely thin? If it has width, then there must be a past, present and future within it and hence another now in this now. There must be a limit to this division of the now or there will be nothing left of it. But even with a limit, this division must end in a very tiny moment, one that arises and passes away so quickly as to be effectively indiscernible. On the other hand, if the now is an infinitely thin boundary between the past and the future, in essence a moment without duration, in what sense can it be said to exist at all? Whether this now exists or not, this moment is very elusive for sure, constantly shifting as it does. Can we only "grasp" it as a fleeting memory and pretend that a "now" that constantly eludes us is "present" when it is actually gone? How can we be "in" the present when it never is "there" long enough? Yet, it is inescapable: we are always in the present moment for, after all, that is all there is.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

When we meditate we cannot help but notice that whatever we experience comes and goes. This is an insight into one of the fundamental characteristics of our experience--nothing is permanent except impermanence itself. We can bewail the fact that nothing that presents itself to us "sticks around" or be happy about the fact that "this too will pass," but this characteristic of our experience--impermanence--is here to stay.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

We finished the eight week meditation workshop on "purposeful attention" under the auspices of the Bancroft Family Health Team. It was well attended throughout. It was a great group of people who seemed to enjoy the Powerpoint presentations that I did for the first time for the workshop. There was much laughter, and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did. I plan to do anther workshop in the fall. It will have a different theme, but we will cover the basics of mediation as we always do.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Meditation is about paying attention on purpose and with purpose, guided by values and directed at revealing our experience as it is. In this workshop we will explore this orientation to meditation and do exercises designed to bring purposeful attention to our everyday lives and promote emotional health.

The workshop is sponsored by the Bancroft Family Health Team and led by Dr. Alan McAllister, Psychologist. It is open without charge to all residents of North Hastings at any level of experience with meditation. The workshop will be held at 19 Oak Street. There will be eight sessions 5:00-6:30 PM on Tuesdays beginning April 21 and ending June 16 (no session on May 19). For further information call 613-334-0109.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Truth be told, all that we experience is just what is occurring in the present. Of course, to navigate through life and to make sense of it all, we construct out of these happenings a separation between ourselves and the world and put it all into a frame of past, present and future. This construction is pragmatic; it works for us, but that does not make it ultimately true or real. In meditation, we have an opportunity to connect with our experience just as it is, that is, with these happenings in the present moment. This is not a lofty attainment but the most ordinary. It only requires that we stay present with our experience.

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About Me

I am a psychologist working in a community clinic in a small town in rural Ontario. I have practiced meditation off and on since I was an undergraduate university student. I have been practicing meditation in the Mahasi Sayadaw tradition since 2001.